A New Beginning ... sounds cliche.

Cliche? It'll do.

One word I've used to sum up my 4 month holiday - productive.

Not in any biological way. Don't want any questions about that.

Productive as in, earnt some cold hard cash, made/making a few models (optional of course), purchased a new wardrobe and maintained a half decent social life. Oh and not to mention my wonderful incident with my splendid left ankle.

In chronological order (merely coz I really can't be bothered thinking...much), HK holiday popped up first. No need to repeat what I said in my earlier journal.

Oh man, the first 3 weeks in January was a real drag. Went to my parents' aged care centre to mainly to help design a brochure and a little bit of other design work (so minute I didn't even know what I was doing). Those were 3 emotionally painful weeks. 3 days a week, 9am - 6pm. Pay was decent I must admit, but just too draining.

A "miracle" stuck me on the last week of January. I applied a job at Kumon (a tuition centre for mainly primary school kids), who returned my call...finally! I applied in July 07 and they call me in Jan 08. I would have thought my resume had been shreaded and put into one of those dog kennel things. But apparently not.

Anyways, the lady on the phone spoke to my brother and basically said, "Come in for an interview tomorrow. Start working whether you pass that or not. Oh and you can come too (referring to my brother)." Desperate much?

Kumon was a wonderful job. Teaching school kids how do do maths and English. Not really teaching...assisting. Kumon have their "theories" on independent learning...blah blah blah. I'm just glad to help people. Apparently, the centre I assisted in (Ivanhoe) was one of the best, if not the best, in Victoria? Or so the boss claims. Not that I really care. But the students there were actually working oddly independent. Can you imagine sitting yourself down at a centre for around 2 hours, twice a week, and do maths and English? No talking, no mucking around. Just work. On top of school homework.

However, Kumon didn't end up being the little gem that it was. I quit. Mainly coz of three reasons. 1) There just isn't enough time for an Architecture student to have a job like this; 2) Pay was so low it could have been illegal; 3) The boss (and her husband) weren't the most considerate people in the world. I quit a week before Uni started again. Too bad for them. Too bad for me.

Let's move to a slightly brighter side of the remainder of the holidays.

Build/made two origami models. Folding a few hundred of triangle pieces and building it together to form a shape. I've uploaded them on DA already, just browse my gallery if you haven't already done so. And thank you do the people who have left all those positive comments.

A random note I feel like shoving in here. MY TETRIS SCORE DIED! THE DS BATTERY DIED ON ME ONE NIGHT. SCORE OF 46 MILLLION. GONEEEEE~! 3 WEEKS OF HARD WORK.

Ok.

Getting late. Last story.

Once upon a time, on the day before Valentines Day, my ankle decided to do funny things to me. Badminton at MSAC and 10min into the session I jumped. Either I landed funny and twist my ankle. OR. I landed on a feather, slipped, and rolled my ankle. Either way, I ended up having a really screwed up ankle. Silly of me to keep playing for another 2 hours. Oh wells...don't cry over spilt milk.

So, there was I limping home on the train. With my wonderful brother taking good care of me by...walking ahead and happily skipping along. Probably hoping I'd fallen over a few blocks back and rolled into the ditched and never to see sunlight again. Who knows.

I actually did my ankle really good this time. Really good as in...really bad. By the time I got home, it was swollen that it barely fit in my shoes. And somewhat blue.

Off to see some Chinese massage/acupuncture dude later that evening.

Oh yes. He is the true meaning of a SADIST.

I'll let your personal experiences describe it for you. If you haven't ever tried, I hope you have a pleasurable time.

That "dude" prescribed some Chinese medicine patch to put on my ankle and wrap it up everyday. The suddenly he throws a line at me, "Acupuncture. Now. Usually I do 35min, today, you new, I do 25min."

If he wasn't my Dad's friend, I would have kneed him in the face. And bailed.

Being a real man (no, I did not wear pink), I laid there and copped a new experience.

Two needles into the ankle, not as painful as injections, but definitely noticeable. Set up some generator, and ran an electric current through my leg. No idea about the voltage or amps. I'm alive. That's all that matters.

25 minutes later. And 10 minutes more of sadistic massage therapy. Just as I was about to leave, he said, "Tuesday. Again. Acupuncture. 10am."

I bailed.

So there I was, limping around at home for a week. In fact, unable to walk on Valentine's Day. And my wonderful brother...omg I forgot to say...

NO SPORTS FOR 6 WEEKS! *dies*

Back to my wonderful brother. He cares for me so much that within that first week of me and my bad ankle, he goes and attempts to organize THREE badminton session with friends.

Is spite love?

Lol, please don't take that question too seriously! ^^"